The United States Department of Labor has awarded $3 million to fund mine training and placement centers in West Virginia, to be administered by the Academy for Mine Training and Energy Technologiesa partnership between the West Virginia University Mining Extension Service, Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College and the West Virginia Coal Association.

The funds will help support traditional classroom instruction and practical experience in equipment operation, utilizing mine simulators and on-the-job training for current miners as well as efforts to recruit and prepare new miners.

The coal industry in this state is booming,said Jim Dean, director of WVU s Mining Extension Service,but there arent enough trained miners to fill the jobs. This grant will greatly enhance our ability to provide people who want to work in the mining industry with the training that they need.

Another key partner in the program is CONSOL Energy, which donated its Dolls Run facility in Monongalia County to WVU to serve as the site of the Mine Training and Placement Center for the northern region of the state. Other partners include the West Virginia Office of Miners Health, Safety and Training, Joy Mining Machinery and Workforce West Virginia.

This has been a group effort from the start that would not have been successful without the help of our partners,Dean said.We are looking forward to continuing to work with all of them as we begin the real work of training miners.

Mining has become a high-tech industry where miners need advanced training to run much of the equipment,said Chris Hamilton, senior vice president of the West Virginia Coal Association.Over the next decade the industry will need 5,000 to 7,000 more miners to keep up with demand and an expected wave of retirements since the average age of West Virginia coal miners is about 55.

The program will be administered by WVU s Mining Extension Service, which has provided coal miner training in West Virginia since 1913, and is part of WVU s College of Engineering and Mineral Resources.

The grant is part of nearly $27 million allocated through President Bush’s High Growth Job Training Initiative.